When: Tuesday, 28 February 2023, 3:00pm-4.30pm (UTC+2).
Where: Porthania Building, Room P673, University of Helsinki. You can also join us online via Zoom:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/61395345385?pwd=QW1WVzJhb21XZUI2U1g1am83WGtHUT09
Meeting ID: 613 9534 5385
Passcode: 698690
Title: European Union and its Founding Values.
Abstract: In the 1990s, the European Union took a new turn and branded ‘democracy’ and ‘rule of law’ as its foundational values – as key notions defining the integration project. The move was finalized by codifying these concepts as binding law with the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997. This development marks a change in the constitutional rhetoric of the Union, as the integration project had historically rested on elite-driven governance and technocratic details of economic cooperation. This talk takes a critical look at the contemporary history of ‘democracy’ and ‘rule of law’ as explicitly asserted foundational values of the Union. Why were these concepts surpassed in the 1950s but taken up with vengeance in the 1990s? What kind of political implications do these age-old concepts hold in the post-1990s transnational scene?